THE COUNTDOWN IS ON

Hundreds of catches over the last month didn’t result in many leaderboard changes, but with inshore fishing starting to fire up, the countdown is on for this season’s bragging rights! With many fish species heading into shallower water to put on condition before the winter, the next couple of months offer great opportunities for anglers to target those trophy fish, all while being in the running for some great prizes – including the $85,000 Extreme Boats 1770.

Last month also saw a few prizes drawn. Lucky angler Sam Griggs entered his first fish in the competition and has won himself a Shimano Tranx 300HG reel, spooled with 20lb Kairiki multicolour braid and a Blackout 6’6” 2-piece rod, worth over $900! Sam managed to catch himself a 45cm john dory while landbased fishing in the ‘Naki – what an effort! The good news is that we have two more of these stunning Shimano combos to give away over the next couple of months, so make sure to enter those catches.

The Furuno Snapper World Cup is firmly in the grasp of Bay of Plenty angler Hayden Speed. At 92.5cm, beating this will take a phenomenal effort with only three larger snapper seen in the Export NZ Fishing Competition’s 12-year history!

The Bayleys x LegaSea Angler Trifecta leaderboard is once again topped by Marlborough angler Jesse Crasborn. After reviewing leading catches, a disqualification unfortunately had to be made – please remember, don’t butcher your fish before measuring them.

Also from the generous team at Shimano, we have another photo competition winner. Angler Paul Gebbie submitted a great shot of his impressive 70.5cm catch off the West Coast, north of Westport. Paul has won himself a Shimano Banar boat bag, gimble and 7” fillet knife. If you have any great shots to complement your fish on the measure, please upload these, too, for your chance to win.

Finally, this month marked another Bayleys x LegaSea Angler Trifecta draw with Northland angler Mike Blowers’ combined length of 227.5cm winning him a Barkers x LegaSea prize pack worth $250.

The major end-of-season prize draws are fast approaching, so make sure to bring a measure if you’re out there wetting a line!

Tight lines.

The Export NZ Fishing Competition is all about sustainable fishing, giving anglers the choice to keep or release their catch while still being in the draw for some great prizes! This month’s Sustainability Tip, brought to you by Dometic, is all about choosing your tackle.

It starts before you leave with packaging. While every boat should have secure tackle storage and a rubbish bin on board, where possible remove all new tackle from its packaging before heading out on the water. The less rubbish you take out, the less chance unnecessary waste can find its way into the ocean.

While fishing, recurve hooks go a long way to prevent ‘gut hooking’ compared to J hooks and so reduce the risk of unnecessarily killing undersize fish. A good quality rubber mesh net also saves on unnecessary damage to fish and allows them to be returned to the water in the best possible condition if required.

Finally, don’t forget that the better you take care of all your fishing equipment, the longer it will last, saving you money and minimising waste. A thorough freshwater rinse and dry, perhaps combined with a corrosioninhibitor product, is the obvious step to get the salt off and prevent corrosion.

Registration and up-tothe-minute leaderboards can be viewed at www.fishingcomp.co.nz